How to Run an Error Check on a Drive from Windows 8.1

If a drive starts acting weird (for example, you see error messages when trying to open a file, or Windows 8.1 crashes in unpredictable ways, or a simple file copy takes hours instead of minutes), run the Windows 8.1 error-checking routines.

If you’re an old hand at Windows (or an even older hand at DOS), you probably recognize the following steps as the venerable CHKDSK routine, in somewhat fancier clothing.

Follow these steps to run Check Disk:

Bring up the drive you want to check in File Explorer. From the tiled Start screen, tap or click the Desktop tile. From the desktop, click the icon that looks like a file folder, down in the taskbar.

On the left, right-click the drive that’s giving you problems and choose Properties.

You see the Local Disk Properties dialog box.

On the Tools tab, click the Check button.

Windows may tell you that you don’t need to scan the drive, as Windows hasn’t found any errors on the drive. If you’re skeptical, though, go right ahead.

Tap or click Scan Drive.

Windows tells you about any problems it encounters and asks for your permission to fix them.